The Woodlands' Houston Brown is tackled by a trio of Skyline defenders in the second quarter of the season opener at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. The Highlanders are 1-1 and face The Woodlands on Saturday.

The Woodlands' Houston Brown is tackled by a trio of Skyline defenders in the second quarter of the season opener at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. The Highlanders are 1-1 and face The Woodlands on Saturday.

Photo: Matt Strasen

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Football: The Woodlands set for shot at Katy

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The Woodlands' next opponent, Katy, has a 30-game regular-season winning streak going after beating Alief Taylor 23-9 last week.

The Tigers haven't loss a regular-season contest since, well, the last time they tangled with the Highlanders. That was in 2009, when The Woodlands claimed a 31-27 victory at Rhodes Stadium.

So The Woodlands coach Mark Schmid expects a fully fired-up Katy this week.

"Katy's going to be fired up, (and) our kids will be fired up just for the nature of the game," Schmid said. "Even though we haven't played each other in the past two years, our kids and their kids know what this is.

"My big deal is, it is a big game but it's not a district game and it won't define our season or Katy's season."

Getting there: Exit 79A and follow the signs to the east side of I-45.

That's for sure.

The Woodlands handed Katy one of its worst losses in recent memory in 2008, winning 47-0 at Woodforest. But the Highlanders lost in the second round of the playoffs that year while the Tigers went on to beat Wylie for the Class 5A Division II state championship, giving them their sixth state title.

But this is one the Highlanders would still like to have, and they may need to throw the ball more to get it.

Quarterback Blaine Gillespie was the team's leading rusher in a 30-7 win over Hightower last week, supplying 104 yards and one score on 12 carries. But he completed just 13 of 25 passes for 89 yards.

Katy held Taylor to five yards on 30 rushes but gave up 193 yards through the air.

"Taylor seemed to have some success throwing the football on them," Schmid said. "We're going to have to throw the football on them to help our running game."

Katy's defense helped its offense last week.

Defensive back Isaiah Brown set up both of the Tigers' offensive touchdowns with an interception return and a long punt return, and he returned another interception 72 yards for a touchdown.

Tigers QB Kiley Huddleston completed just 4 of 6 passes for 60 yards and a TD against Taylor, and standout backs Adam Taylor and Rodney Anderson combined for just 89 rushing yards.

The Tigers also fumbled the ball five times.

"We've got to go back to work and go re-identify ourselves and see if we can't create more movement and … more mismatches," Joseph said. "We've got some really good running backs and we've got to take advantage of that."

One things Joseph didn't have to do this week was remind his team about their last two games against The Woodlands.